Autz Sheva; Israel National News - The Plot Sickens
Hizbullah may be Behind Murder of Tehran Physics Professorby Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
Evidence is mounting that Hizbullah may have been behind last week's assassination of Professor Ali Mohammadi, a physics professor who was murdered in a booby-trapped motorcycle explosion near his home.
Contrary to initial reports, Mohammadi apparently was not a nuclear physicist and had no connection with the development of Iran’s nuclear program, thus ruling out a motive that opposition groups were responsible for killing him.
He also supported Mir Hossein Mousavi in the election against Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. He reportedly signed a petition on behalf of those who protested what they called the rigged re-election of Ahmadinejad last June.
Within a day of the assassination, Iran accused “Zionists’ and the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) of being responsible for the murder. The government on Monday warned it will take revenge against the two countries.
An opposition group has claimed that a Hizbullah assassin was photographed at the scene of the bomb explosion and that Iran hired its ally Hizbullah to carry out the murder in order to scare opposition forces.
A blogger associated with the opposition named the possible assassin as Abu Nasser Hossein, identifying him as a prominent Lebanese Hizbullah member who has been in Tehran and who has been involved in suppressing demonstrations. However, the Islamic Republic regime took pains to praise Mohammedi as a supporter and sent hundreds of Revolutionary Guards to his funeral in what appears to be a mask for its having ordered his murder.
The bomb blast, a rarity in Tehran although not uncommon in outlying areas of Iran, was similar to the modus operandi of Hizbullah explosions in Lebanon. Murdering Mohammadi gave the Iranian regime the double-edged excuse of putting fear into the hearts of the opposition while claiming that it needs to control protests in order to prevent further violence by opponents to the regime.
The professor may have been targeted because of his association with SESAME, a Jordanian-based program in which Israeli scientists also participate.
Laura Rozen recently reported on the Politico.com website, “An academic contact speculates: I know for a fact .... that SESAME is a fertile recruiting ground for all sorts of scientific espionage. If Mohammadi was too cozy with his Israeli colleagues, he may have been taken out by the Iranians themselves (through their Hizbullah allies in Tehran) as an example to other pro-reform academics."
Labels: Israel, Middle East, Terrorism
posted by Pieface @ Tuesday, January 19, 2010
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